Labour vows to continue 'class war' campaign against Tories

Speaking as polls showed the Tory lead over Labour dipping below 10 points, the Foreign Secretary accused Mr Cameron of planning "the biggest redistribution of wealth to the wealthy in two generations".

Mr Miliband brushed off questions about his leadership ambitions, insisting he remains "110 per cent" behind Gordon Brown, who he said would lead Labour into the General Election in "three or four months" time as the party of "real change".

Labour should "pick up the gauntlet that the Tories have thrown down" with their Time For Change slogan, Mr Miliband told BBC1's Andrew Marr Show.

"They say they want this to be an election about change – so do we. We want it to be an election about real change."

Labour's manifesto would look to the future by "building on" the party's achievements in bringing down crime, restraining the rise in unemployment during the recession and delivering improvements in the treatment of acute conditions in the NHS, he said.

Contrasting this package with the Tories' offer to the voters, he said: "What do they actually stand for? Abolishing inheritance tax, bringing back fox-hunting and isolating ourselves in Europe.

"That's not what the country needs. That's not change. That's driving with one eye on the rear-view mirror."

Since Mr Brown's jibe that Tory tax policies were developed "on the playing fields of Eton", Labour has been accused by critics of retreating to its core of working-class support and giving up the political middle ground.

The Prime Minister's promise last week to put "social mobility" at the centre of the party's election message was widely seen as a disavowal of "class war" politics.

But Mr Miliband insisted that the "class war" tag was only ever an attempt by Tories to divert attention away from the potential impact of their policies on ordinary voters.

"We are accused of class war every time we raise the issue of taking on special privileges in this country," he said.

"The Tories are proposing the biggest redistribution of wealth to the wealthy in two generations through the effective abolition of inheritance tax.

"I don't care where David Cameron went to school. I do care that he is proposing the biggest redistribution of wealth to the wealthy in two generations.

"The politics that says that special privilege has no place in a modern country has been part of the Labour Party credo for 100 years.

"The commitment to equal opportunity which is at the heart of everything we do and the commitment to social mobility which the Prime Minister has put at the heart of the election campaign – that's what the Labour Party is about."

Mr Miliband was widely suspected of wavering in his support for Mr Brown when former Cabinet colleagues Patricia Hewitt and Geoff Hoon issued an open letter calling for a secret ballot on the leadership.

He insisted yesterday that the seven-hour delay before he came out with a statement of support for the PM was because he did not want to "give wind to a story which was blowing itself out".

But he declined to answer a direct question over whether he knew in advance that the letter was to be sent, telling Marr: "Rumours go round of all sorts of things at Westminster. No one knew that the letter was going to be put in the way that it was.

"Rumours were going round of Cabinet Ministers resigning and people writing letters and people writing articles. No Cabinet Minister was involved in this letter.

"The important thing is that we have one leader, Gordon Brown, who is leading us into the election. We are one team and we are absolutely determined around a unified platform."

Asked whether he had thrown away any hopes of eventually becoming Labour leader by apparently considering a challenge to Mr Brown and then "bottling" it, Mr Miliband replied: "I am a battler for the things I believe in and I am battling to support Gordon Brown's Labour Government to bring change for this country."